Natarin haRabb
While Kataphraktoi form a corps of powerful but slow armoured cavalry, the Natarin haRabb has a different function, and works as an elite corps of light lancers. Even so, they shouldn't be underestinated, for they are crack warriors, and form the retainers of a sheikh or a king — and for this reason, they have some of the best arms and armour. Natarin haRabb are not brute force chargers — that is the task for the Kataphraktoi. Instead, they are meant to be used as a force of premium light cavalry, used to supplement the Kataphraktoi with their awesome attack and speed, picking off any unarmoured foes, whilst defending against javelin cavalry. This is especially more important, given just how the mobility of the Kataphraktoi are impaired by their awesome yet heavy accoutrements, thus making them vulnerable to enemy javelin cavalry charges. Natarin haRabb thus are ideal for escort and defence, leaving the Kataphraktoi to perform shock assaults on enemy units, such as spearmen. Background Although the famous 19th century British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli famously declared Arabs as "Jews on horseback" (as his surname suggests Disraeli himself was Jewish), the association of Arabs with horses did not exactly take place until the Middle Ages. As the interior of the Arabian Peninsula has been dry for approximately 10,000 years, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for horses — an animal more accustomed to plains and prairies — to exist in that arid land without the aid of man. Further, the domestication of the camel circa 3500 BCE provided the nomadic Arabs with a more reliable means of transport and sustenance needed to survive the perils of life in central Arabia, an area into which they must have ventured about 2500 BCE. For this reason, the horse — until recently — was, like everywhere else in the Hellenistic era outside of Central Asia, associated with the nobility. To function properly and be more than just a food animal, horses needed special care, from their handling all the way to the very food that they had. All this required a cadre of specialised labour which simply was not accessible except to those men of means such as rich magnates or a landed aristocracy with the power to command such forces. Another drawback of horse cavalry for the Arabs, in addition to their cost, was the fact that horses would spook easily in close proximity to camelry — making it harder to use them effectively on tha battlefield. Ergo, the way of Arab warfare preferred to divide the roles of camels and horses — the slower but cheaper camelry would be used as "tanks", owing to their resilience and their height advantage, while the faster and more expensive horses were used as flank strike teams. This would have been the way most Arab tribes fought until the emergence of Turkish arms and cavalry tactics in the Islamic era — and even then, such tactics were associated with the more cosmopolitan northern Middle East, as opposed to the Arabian peninsula which continued to remain as barren and impoverished as it was in the Prophet's day. Category:Nabataeans